Texas’s win over Texas A&M will likely not be enough to secure a College Football Playoff spot due to earlier losses.
Mississippi has locked in a playoff berth after defeating Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl.
Georgia’s victory against Georgia Tech secures them a spot in the SEC championship game.
It’s too little and too late for No. 16 Texas, which pulled out a 27-17 win against No. 3 Texas A&M but will very likely still be sidelined from the College Football Playoff because of losses to No. 1 Ohio State, Florida and Georgia.
With so many contenders for only so many at-large spots, the Longhorns’ losses will offset three outstanding wins against the Aggies, No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 14 Vanderbilt.
How do the Longhorns make the cut? With absolute insanity involving all of the two-loss teams still in the playoff mix, led by No. 10 Alabama.
Possible, sure, but the odds are very low. In the end, the Longhorns will come up short because of the awful and avoidable loss to the Gators.
Now the Aggies wait to see if Auburn can knock off No. 10 Alabama in the Iron Bowl. If so, they’d have a chance to beat No. 4 Georgia and slide back into the top four of the final playoff rankings.
That’s the big fallout from a loss in Austin: A&M now faces the likelihood of coming up short of the top four and having to play in the opening round instead of breezing into the quarterfinals.
The one silver lining is that a playoff berth was guaranteed before Black Friday; the Aggies could even finish at No. 5, which would earn a matchup at home against the Group of Five’s playoff team.
That’s a helpful safety net and a nice way to take the sting out of a rivalry loss. But A&M would rather have two wins against Texas since the series was rekindled last season. Instead, the Aggies have lost both games, and this one will particularly sting with the missed opportunity of reaching their first SEC title games.
The Longhorns and Aggies lead the winners and losers from Black Friday’s college football action:
Winners
Mississippi
Half of the wait is over for No. 6 Mississippi. The Rebels are locked into the playoff after ending the regular season with a 38-19 win in the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. They’re slated to land an at-large berth and be one of the host teams in the opening round. Now, Ole Miss shifts to the wait for Lane Kiffin, who is expected to announce on Saturday whether he’s remaining with the program — such as he did amid Auburn’s interest three years ago — or leaving for an SEC rival in LSU.
Georgia
Combined with No. 3 Texas A&M losing to No. 16 Texas, beating No. 19 Georgia Tech 16-9 will secure No. 4 Georgia a spot in the SEC championship game opposite either Mississippi or No. 10 Alabama depending on what happens in the Iron Bowl. At a minimum, the Bulldogs were able to bolster a résumé worthy of the top four while also dealing the knockout blow to the Jackets’ playoff hopes. Georgia has won eight in a row, three against ranked competition, and is rounding into form defensively just in time to make a run at a third national championship under coach Kirby Smart. But the Gunner Stockton-led offense is struggling and has to clean things up before the postseason.
Utah
No. 14 Utah still has a slim path to the Big 12 championship game after riding a 21-point fourth quarter to a 31-21 win against Kansas. As in last week’s shoutout victory against Kansas State, Utah had to overcome a porous run defense that gave up 290 yards on 5.7 yards per play. From here, the Utes need one of No. 7 Texas Tech or No. 11 Brigham Young to be upset on Saturday by West Virginia or Central Florida, respectively. Even without playing for the conference crown, this represents a highly successful year for Utah coming off last season’s five-win finish and a major reboot on offense.
Iowa
The Hawkeyes’ big-brother bullying of Nebraska continued with a 40-16 road win in Lincoln that plainly illustrates the wide gap still separating these two programs. While each of the previous seven meetings in this series had been decided by a possession, this one was blown open in the second half: Iowa notched a safety early in the third quarter to lead 26-16 and then put the Cornhuskers away with another pair of touchdown drives. Narrow losses to Iowa State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 5 Oregon and No. 20 Southern California will end up defining this season, but blowing out Nebraska allows Iowa to end the year on a very high note.
North Texas
North Texas cruised past Temple 52-25 behind 366 yards and three scores from Drew Mestemaker and will meet No. 23 Tulane for the American championship, assuming the Green Wave beat Charlotte on Saturday. Though this won’t be guaranteed until Tuesday’s penultimate playoff rankings, the winner between the Mean Green and Green Wave is virtually assured of earning the Group of Five’s automatic berth. Coach Eric Morris will leave for Oklahoma State after this season but will coach through the playoff if North Texas makes the bracket.
Losers
Nebraska
Hey, at least Nebraska didn’t lose to Iowa on a late field goal. This was much, much worse. After hanging around Iowa early and getting the breaks they needed to finally notch a win against their rival, the Cornhuskers collapsed in the second half and were run off their home field in the low point of Matt Rhule’s three-year tenure. Amid more preseason hype and a strong start, Nebraska ends the regular season at 7-5, just one game better than last year. The Cornhuskers also went 1-3 after Rhule’s contract extension was announced.
Kansas
This feels like even more of a lost season than last year, when injuries played a bigger role in keeping the Jayhawks short of bowl eligibility. Once 4-2 after beating Central Florida in October, Kansas limped to the finish with five losses in six games. The defense cratered down the stretch, giving up at least 31 points four times in the second half, and the offense committed way too many turnovers — including a pick-six in the fourth quarter on Friday — to pick up the slack.